Club career

Born in Hondarribia, Basque Country, Spain, Llorente came through the ranks of Real Sociedad, making his debut for the first team on October 3, 1999, at Real Zaragoza (0–2 loss). He would however, only amass 23 appearances in four seasons and left, in 2003, for another side in his native region, SD Eibar, in the second level, where he already had served a six-month loan stint in 2000–01.

On January 20, 2008, in a league match against RCD Espanyol, Llorente broke the Spanish league record for the fastest goal ever scored (7.82 seconds), beating UruguayanDario Silva's previous record at 8. He broke through that season, aged almost 29, scoring 16 league goals to help the team retain top-flight status (namely a hat-trick against Recreativo de Huelva, on the 13th).